When trolling for fish, it has been common practice to use down rigger systems in deep water where a fishing line is releasably attached to a strong line with a heavy weight at the end. The weighted, strong line keeps the fishing line, and lure, in a near vertical position, at a desired depth, below the boat while trolling.
Similarly, when trolling for fish, it has been common practice to use a planing board system where a fishing line is releasably attached to a strong line with a planing board at the end. The planing board and strong line keep the fishing line, and lure, in a near horizontal position at a desired distance from the side of the boat while trolling.
With either the down rigger or the planing board system, when a fish strikes the baited fishing line, the fishing line pulls free from the strong vertical or horizontal positioning line, and the fisherman can then play the fish separate and apart from either the down rigger or the planing board system.
Pursuant to U.S. Pat. No. 3,910,524 to Ireland, it is known that a down rigger system can be easily operated via use of a reversible motor. Also, pursuant to U.S. Pat. No. 4,376,350 to Bednarz et al., it is known that an electronic control system can be installed on the reversible motor of a down rigger system so that an operator either can manually operate the system, which measures and displays line depths, or can program a pre-determined depth and height so that the individual down rigger unit will automatically lower and raise to the pre-determined depth and height upon the signal of a raise/lower switch.
While the above-referenced prior art systems are certainly advantageous, they require time-consuming and inconvenient individual attention for the operation of each respective down rigger system when more than one such system are concurrently used on the same fishing boat. Further, the above-referenced prior art systems require either the captain to leave the helm of the boat, or require a two man operation, via the captain instructing a mate, when the desired depth of one, or more, such system is desired to be modified because of changing bottom elevations or because of differing fish depths indicated via electronic fish finding devices. Also, when a fish is hooked, the above-referenced prior art systems require someone to make individual separate trips to each such down rigger system in use on the boat to activate the respective raise switches so as to avoid entanglement occasioned by the varying movements of the hooked fish being played.
Lastly, of great concern to a captain with a fishing party on board trolling far from land, if the art system described in the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 4,376,350 to Bednarz et al., should malfunction, the aforesaid art system described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,910,524 to Ireland, to which it is attached, becomes extremely difficult to utilize.